Art At The Sandler Center

Virginia Beach’s Public Art Program enhances our city's identity as a community that supports and promotes creative expression. Visitors and residents enjoy art everywhere from the Oceanfront to Town Center and beyond. The Sandler Center for the Performing Arts is proud to host two public artworks, along with a public art gallery. Check out the one-of-a-kind art that gets to call the Sandler Center home.

Sandler Center Art Gallery

The City of Virginia Beach's Cultural Affairs Department offers a public exhibition opportunity for serious visual and fine craft artists exhibiting two-dimensional works. Exhibits are rotated on a bi-monthly basis. The Sandler Center for the Performing Arts Gallery is located on the second and third-floor lobbies. This location offers great exposure for artists seeking to reach local patrons and visitors to this multi-use facility.

Please see the Application Guidelines for further details regarding the exhibition guidelines and application information.

Current Gallery Exhibit

Born and living in Norfolk, Virginia, Glen McClure photographs people and landscapes in the U.S. and Europe. He purchased his first camera in his early 20s and then joined the Studio Center as a photographer’s assistant. After working as a photographer at Arthur Polizos Advertising, he launched his own commercial photography business in 1988.

Influenced by early 20th-century photographers Josef Sudek and Paul Strand, McClure had his first solo exhibition in 1997. Now, more than 60 solo and numerous group exhibitions later, his work can be found in many collections including the Chrysler Museum of Art, The Mariners Museum, The Taubman Museum, and many private collections. Glen McClure’s work has been selected three times for inclusion in the prestigious Communication Art’s Photography Annual, including in 2014.

Wings - Outdoor Sculpture

On September 16, 2011, the Sandler Center dedicated Virginia Beach’s newest piece of public art. Lin Emery's latest work, Wings, is a large-scale kinetic sculpture. The aluminum artwork enhances the façade of the Sandler Center and aesthetically complements the outdoor plaza and surrounding Town Center businesses.

Renowned New Orleans artist, Lin Emery seeks to capture the energy inherent in nature in her kinetic sculptures. Not only does her iconography rely on natural shapes, but it is the forces of nature such as wind or water that set her sculptures in motion. Her latest sculpture Wings is a classic example of the sculpture’s relationship with wind and movement. The highly polished surfaces of her welded aluminum sculptures invite a dialogue between the industrial character of their construction and the organic connotations that the works evoke.

Emery begins each of her large-scale public sculptures with a scaled-down model. Ms. Emery insists on hands-on-control of every stage of the process. She works with her own crew throughout the design and implementation process. Ms. Emery’s six decades of work can be seen throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Her work has been commissioned by government municipalities, universities, medical centers, religious centers, and corporate plazas. In October, Hudson Hills Press will release Lin Emery by Philip F. Palmedo and John Berendt. The book covers the artist and her 60 years of work.

About the sponsor: "Tom Felton loved visual art, symphonic music, dance, opera, theatre, folk music, sculpture, pottery, and arts of all kinds; for this I loved him. We agreed that public art defines a city and the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts is a definitive part of Virginia Beach. A building to house all performing arts needs a magnificent sculpture as a focal point. Using the Sandler Center logo for inspiration, Lin Emery was chosen to define our city. Her sculpture, Pennant, has been defining our Meyera E. Oberndorf Central Library for over twenty years. Tom and I agreed that his hometown should be a vision for the arts. The statement, “intelligence, creativity, arts,” is our legacy." — Juanita Felton

Toshio Iezumi Glass Sculptures

The Sandler Center has become even more beautiful as three stunning glass sculptures by internationally renowned Japanese artist, Toshio Iezumi, now permanently adorn the Sandler Center lobby for visitors and citizens of Virginia Beach to enjoy for years to come. The pieces were created by joining plates of glass and then grinding them, forming stunning, contemplative sculptures that present ever-changing moods in differing light, presenting the viewer with a different, beautiful impression upon each viewing. Captivated by the beauty and mystery of glass, Mr. Iezumi's work explores the visual potential of glass in an attempt to create flawless perfection.

Toshio Iezumi resides in Japan, where he was born in 1954. He graduated from the Tokyo Glass Institute and is both a Practicing Artist and an Associate Professor of Fine Art at the Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts. His work has been exhibited in art galleries and in museum exhibitions worldwide, including 'World Glass Now' (Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, 1991 & 1994); 'Venezia Aperto Vetro' (Museo Correr, Venice, Italy 1996); 'The Glass Skin' (Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Corning Museum of Glass, Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, 1997-99); 'Glass Exhibition' (Art Museum, Shanghai Art Museum,); 'Outspoken Glass' (Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art,2003); 'Material Matters' (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2006); 'Sculpture by the Sea' (Bondi, Australia, 2007). He is represented in the permanent collections of major museums including The Corning Museum of Glass; The Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Newark Museum of Art; The Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art; the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo.

201 Market Street

Virginia Beach, Virginia 23462

(757) 385-2787

Box Office Info

Mon - Fri: 10a - 6p

Sat: 10a - 2p / Sun: Closed

Event Days: 1 hour prior to doors opening,

unless otherwise stated

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I purchase tickets?

Tickets for events at the Sandler Center may be purchased at the following authorized points of purchase:

Visit our Directions & Parking page for a full list of parking lots available for use during Sandler Center events. With more than 3,000 free parking spaces, Sandler Center guests can park within close proximity to the venue. ADA parking is available in each parking lot. Patrons can be dropped off on Commerce St.

How do I have my event at the Sandler Center?

Patrons interested in hosting their event at the Sandler Center should fill out the form on the Host An Event page. In addition to the main performance hall, rooms are available to rent for meetings and banquets.